If you’re going to spend most of your time in the kitchen, you might as well surround yourself with quality.

And if you’re really serious about it, then you might stretch your kitchen out to living areas and media centers – even adding a fireplace along the way.

That’s the Effeti USA approach to kitchen design, and it makes sense, in a clean, crisp, modern way.

“Most people prefer open living – with even the family room or great room connected – so it doesn’t look like you’re sitting and eating in the kitchen,” Kelly Solon says.  “It reflects how people really live.”

She and Shelly McClure have built a strong relationship with Effeti Cucine Uniche, the Florence-based manufacturer of high-end, highly functional kitchens.

Effeti is a relatively small (200 people) company with a furniture-maker background.  “They put kitchens together as craftsmen, rather than mass-producing cabinets,” says McClure.

The parent company’s hallmark is a perfectionist attitude.

When their flagship showroom opened in Chelsea’s historic Tunnel Building, the Italian owner was on hand to match up veneers.  “They didn’t match, and he had it redone,” Solon says.   “All the veneers have to come from the same lot – and they’ll make extra pieces from that lot, just in case the customer needs it later.

Most of the wood they use is oak that’s treated thermally or stained. Chestnut, teak and rosewood are available in lacquer and matte finishes, along with glass.

“They control the process, from start to end, including the finishes and the veneers,” she says.

Business is booming for the New York firm:  Solon and McClure have worked on spaces as small as a galley kitchen and as large as eight kitchens in one building.  They’re currently at work on brownstones in Brooklyn and a single family home in Rye.

“The aesthetic is minimal and modern, but it’s adaptable for many kinds of architecture,” McClure says.

That’s an understatement.

For more information, go to http://www.effetiusa.com/

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